Integrated Coastal Management in Philippine Local Governance: Evolution and Benefits

In 1991 the Philippine government shifted many coastal management responsibilities to local governments and fostered increased local participation in the management of coastal resources. In their delivery of integrated coastal management (ICM) as a basic service, many local governments have achieved increasing public awareness of coastal resource management (CRM) issues. Continuing challenges are financial sustainability, inadequate capacities, weak law enforcement, and lack of integrated and collaborative efforts. To address these challenges, a CRM certification system was developed to improve strategies and promote incentives for local governments to support ICM. This system is being applied by an increasing number of local governments to guide the development and implementation of ICM in their jurisdiction. The CRM benchmarks required for a local government to achieve the first level of certification are: budget allocated, CRM related organizations formed and active, CRM plan developed and adopted, shoreline management initiated and two or more best practices implemented. Implementation is providing tangible benefits to communities through enhanced fisheries production associated with MPAs, revenues from user fees and enhanced community pride through learning exchanges and involvement in decisions, among others.     

Coastal Resources as an Engine of Economic Growth and Reduction of Poverty in West Africa: Policy Considerations

This article synthesizes lessons and outcomes from the second international Coastal Zone Asia-Pacific conference (CZAP) on “Improving the Quality of Life in Coastal Areas,” held in Brisbane in September 2004. The conference theme was chosen as a follow-up from the first CZAP that identified priority actions in response to the increasing recognition of social issues in coastal management, particularly those aiming to improve the state of the coastal areas in the Asia-Pacific region. The second CZAP explored the “quality of life” theme by placing emphasis on rectifying coastal poverty, sustaining livelihoods, and protecting cultural heritage. Mechanisms to address these issues were explored through international agreements, participatory research, capacity building, and education, as well as the continuing need for integrated planning, environmental management, and effective monitoring and evaluation. A post-conference survey showed that the second CZAP resulted in 122 initiatives (82 underway and another 40 planned) to progress the improvement of quality of life in coastal areas. These initiatives ranged from the establishment of a unit that is responsible for river basin and coastal zone management by the Thua Thien Hue provincial government in Vietnam, to a collaborative on-ground livelihoods project between NGOs, government, and financial institutions on coastal zone management facilitated by the Asian Development Bank. However, the authors argue that two key challenges for ICM in the Asia-Pacific region remain. These challenges relate to the effective monitoring and evaluation of ICM initiatives, as well as matching future ICM initiatives to emergent priority areas.     

An Assessment of Integrated Coastal Management Governance and Implementation Using the DPSIR Framework: KwaZulu-Natal,South Africa

Coastal areas are under increasing pressure driven by demands for coastal space, primarily though population growth, in migration and the need for space for socioeconomic activities. The pressures and associated changes to the coastal environment need to be managed to ensure long-term sustainability. South Africa has enacted an Integrated Coastal Management Act (ICM Act) to facilitate dedicated management of its coastal environment. The implementation has been met with a number of challenges, primarily relating to financial and human capacity constraints, particularly at the local government level. Given that the ICM Act devolves powers to local government, it is imperative that implementation challenges be addressed. This paper focuses on KwaZulu-Natal, one of four South African coastal regions, which is a renowned tourist destination and home to 11.1 million people (Statistics South Africa 2015 Statistics South Africa. 2015. Mid-Year Population Estimates. Statistical release P0302. Pretoria, South Africa: Statistics South Africa. [Google Scholar]). This paper considers the state of coastal management, as well as implementation challenges being experienced at a local governance level, and highlights ways to address these. Data were acquired through questionnaire surveys and semistructured interviews. The Drivers-Pressures-State-Impact-Response (DPSIR) framework was used to identify relevant ICM issues and concerns and develop potential actions for improving the implementation of coastal management activities and the ICM Act. In the assessment of the ICM governance and implementation to date, a key concern identified was a general lack of coastal management knowledge among officials. It was specifically identified that knowledgeable management and capacity-building required championing from the provincial government in order to more efficiently and effectively implement the objectives of the ICM Act through an improved understanding of the coastal environment, its functioning and management.     

Capacity Building for Integrated Coastal Management in Asia-Pacific: The Case for Case Studies

Development of awareness and capacity is a central component to the delivery of ICM and spans from local communities to national-level politicians. Education and training activities associated with ICM must be extremely varied to match both the existing capacity and role that the stakeholders play within the process of ICM. Consequently, there cannot be considered any effective “generic” ICM training; training must be tailored to match the requirements of target groups. The transfer and uptake of good-practice thus becomes an important aspect of quality enhancement in ICM capacity development. Six case studies from the Asia-Pacific region are presented that show diverse and innovative examples of good practice. A comparative analysis of these case studies is carried out in terms of institutional level of impact. In addition a generic systems-based evaluation framework is used to determine the extent to which the training impacts upon ICM implementation indicators. It is concluded that the exchange, transfer, and translation to local conditions of appropriate good practice in ICM capacity development can be an important element in enhancing the impact of ICM programs on the coastal environments and societies. Furthermore, there appears to be a positive link between the involvement of national/state/regional stakeholders in capacity-building initiatives and impacting a wider variety of indicators of ICM delivery.     

Learning Frontiers in the Practice of Integrated Coastal Management

Since the Rio conference in 1992 investments in integrated coastal management (ICM) have increased dramatically. National and subnational governments have undertaken many initiatives to protect and develop coastal areas. Extensive field experience has advanced understanding of the operational attributes of ICM. This article reviews the principles and operational attributes of ICM that have become well accepted, particularly from the perspective of international ICM donors and professionals. A common understanding of the fundamentals of ICM provides a base from which targeted and systematic study and assessment of ICM can be conducted. Several thematic areas are suggested where there are currently important needs and opportunities for collective study and learning in ICM. The important role of donors is emphasized in supporting collaborative learning initiatives that advance understanding of ICM, and improve and expand the practice.     

Overcoming Governance and Institutional Barriers to Integrated Coastal Zone,Marine Protected Area,and Tourism Management in Sri Lanka

One of the major barriers to addressing complex social–ecological issues through integrated coastal management (ICM) is a lack of intergovernmental coordination and cooperation (horizontal and vertical fragmentation). This article describes an effort to overcome the barriers to ICM in Sri Lanka by fostering intergovernmental collaboration and initiating adaptive governance to restore one town, Hikkaduwa, and its associated marine protected area (MPA) and coastal zone habitats. Administrators from 12 national and local governmental agencies that are responsible for aspects of coastal management in the town of Hikkaduwa participated in a series of formal and informal workshops and a week-long tour of ICM projects in the Philippines. Outcomes demonstrate that these informal and formal meetings, workshops, and travel experiences fostered trust, social capital, and attitudinal organizational commitment (AOC). The experiences motivated members to overcome vertical and horizontal governance fragmentation through the formation of an independent intergovernmental committee for the restoration of Hikkaduwa into a sustainable and resilient community. ICM activities undertaken by the newly formed organization suggest that internal leadership capacity, effective local–national partnerships, explicitly linked ecological–economic projects, and long-term commitment are necessary conditions for success. Overall, attainment of sustainability and resilience through successful ICM should be thought of as a journey and not a destination.     

Decentralized Coastal Zone Management in Malaysia and Indonesia: A Comparative Perspective 1

Transferring decision-making process from central to local government and enhancing the role of local communities in managing coastal zones is an increasing commitment by governments in Southeast Asia. This article analyzes decentralized coastal zone management in two neighboring countries, Malaysia and Indonesia. The Federal system in Malaysia is argued to be able to influence more decentralized coastal zone management and to promote community-based management approaches. Meanwhile, the large diversity of coastal resources and communities combined with a still as yet tested decentralization policy in Indonesia is argued to bring more challenges in implementing the decentralization and community-based approaches in coastal zones. The lessons learned in this study provide insight in how far decentralized coastal zone management has taken place in Malaysia and Indonesia. The significant differences in the pattern of coastal zone management in these two countries are discussed in detail. This study recognizes that co-management and community-based approaches can be appropriate in dealing with coastal zone management. This comparative perspective is important to the development of a bigger picture of sustainable coastal zone management processes and cross-regional knowledge-sharing in Southeast Asia.     

Criteria for Evaluating the Design of Implementation Models for Integrated Coastal Management

Despite the emphasis placed on the contextual nature of integrated coastal management (ICM) implementation in the literature, many uniformities are encountered in ICM implementation worldwide. In this article the tangled threads of ICM practice are unravelled and a theoretically founded set of criteria for evaluating the design of ICM implementation models is provided. First, paradigms in integrated environmental management (IEM) implementation, the broader domain within which ICM practice is nested, are characterized in terms of their key concepts. Next, the paradigms are used as a mechanism to distill uniformities in ICM practice as reported in review articles. Finally a set of fourteen building blocks against which the scientific credibility of contextual, country-specific ICM implementation models can be validated, is generated by translating the theory-based characterization into evaluation criteria readily accessible to practitioners.     

Response of coastal zone management programs to sea level rise in the United States

Abstract

State coastal zone management programs are responding to the potential impacts of accelerated sea level rise through a wide range of activities and policies. This article provides a brief overview of the Coastal Zone Management Act and other federal laws that provide the basis for coastal state regulatory activities. It surveys the level of response to sea level rise by state coastal management programs in 24 marines coastal states, from formal recognition to implementation of policies addressing the issue. Individual state CZMP responses and policies that have been implemented or proposed are categorized. The adaptation of sea level rise to ongoing institutional objectives is discussed and policy constraints and trends are summarized.     

The Theory and Practice of Coastal Area Planning: Linking Strategic Planning to Local Communities

Integrated coastal management (ICM) has been slowly accepted over the last decade as a unifying approach for coastal planning and management throughout the world. Coastal planning aimed at achieving the objectives of ICM can be implemented by varying processes and faces many challenges. One major challenge for coastal planning is to adapt the well-developed theoretical principles of ICM to practical and understandable outcomes in local areas. Associated with this challenge is the need to balance coastal planning objectives for conservation and economic development of a nation or state/province with the objectives of the local community. This article describes a three-tiered approach to coastal planning in Victoria, Australia, which will be of value to other countries, particularly those with subnational coastal planning jurisdictions. This approach not only has the aim of balancing subnational (e.g., state government) and local objectives, but also of applying the theoretical concept of ICM in practice on the ground. In addition, the approach sets out to achieve a sense of ownership of the planning process by local communities by maximizing their involvement at all levels of planning and also by making the state strategy as easy to understand and follow as possible.     

Stimulating Vertical Integration in Coastal Management in a Federated Nation: The Case of Australian Coastal Policy Reform

Four decades ago Australia was credited as being an early leader in implementing integrated coastal management (ICM). Nevertheless, as a federation of states and territories Australia has since struggled to fully implement vertical integration of its coastal governance arrangements. In particular the federal government has historically possessed only a minor role in coastal management despite the recommendations of several major inquires suggesting that this role needed to be enhanced. This article examines a series of circumstances and events over the past two years in Australia that has created the opportunity for the federal government to adopt a more significant and prominent role in coastal management and hence to substantially complete the vertical integration of ICM in Australia. These stimuli for coastal policy reform could also play a role in enhancing ICM in other federated nations.     

An Analysis of the Impact of the Internet on Coastal Management

The role of the Internet in coastal management practice is analyzed through the Internet's communication and information access capacity. Primary and secondary impacts of the Internet in coastal management are assessed. A broad research framework is employed, including background on the development and spread of the Internet worldwide; analysis of emerging literature on the societal impact of the Internet; limited existing research on the use of the Internet by environmental management professionals generally and coastal managers in particular; and personal experience of the authors in the development of coastal management Internet sites. This analytical framework is supplemented by the first survey of integrated coastal management (ICM) Internet websites by www.coastalmanagement.com and a case study of the Internet Center for Coastal Management (ICCM) Internet-based communication platform based at the University of Washington. The survey of ICM websites found a total of 77 websites worldwide, with a dominance of sites in English located in the developed world. Assessment of the first year of operation of the ICCM project to facilitate discussion between coastal management practitioners and students in the United States and the Philippines demonstrates the enormous potential of the Internet as a communications tool in coastal management and also reveals the many practical technological and cultural constraints of using the Internet, especially in working on a project between the developed and developing world. Three groups of scenarios of the future use of the Internet in coastal management with decreasing levels of forecast certainty, namely, "probable," and "possible," and "potential for" are presented and discussed. Finally, the potential for the Internet to fundamentally transform the practice of coastal management is analyzed. It is concluded that while such a potential exists, there remain significant research questions requiring further analysis before the full transformative potential, and the possible impacts of such a transformation on coastal management, can be fully assessed. This article aims to provide a benchmark against which such future assessments can be made.     

Catalyzing Coastal Management in Kenya and Zanzibar: Building Capacity and Commitment

Site-based projects were initiated in Chawka Bay-Paje, Zanzibar, and Nyali-Bamburi-Shanzu, Kenya, to demonstrate the benefits of an integrated coastal management (ICM) approach for addressing coastal issues such as tourism development and enhancement of resource-dependent village economies in eastern Africa. A two-year, multidonor project used three primary strategies to make rapid, but sustainable, progress toward ICM. These included using interagency government teams for ICM planning, adopting an internationally recognized framework for ICM as a project ''road map,'' and explicitly incorporating capacity-building strategies into all aspects of the project. Within two years, integrated ICM action strategies, prepared through participatory processes, were being implemented at both sites, and both teams were working to expand the scale and scope of ICM in their nation. More importantly, the project helped create committed, capable, interagency groups that continue to work together to address urgent ICM issues.     

Coastal management as a bargaining process

Abstract

Major challenges are ahead in managing the coastal zone of western Canada. Until now there has been no legislated focus through a coastal zone management act nor a policy for the management of coastal resources. Instead, policies and institutions have been evolving out of existing legislation responding to opportunities and needs as they have arisen. Management is predominantly a bargaining process the success of which depends on opportunities for informed participation by the affected interests. Considering the relatively small investments in management, bargaining appears to have worked rather well, but there are weaknesses. Fortunately, significant opportunities exist to improve performance at relatively low cost. In particular, there should be a shift from the past emphasis on inventorying, monitoring, and coordination, to the development of functional knowledge and sectoral planning that can be the basis for informed and representative bargaining.     

Assessment of coastal zone issues in the Republic of Korea

Abstract

The physical characteristics of Korea have had a profound impact on the uses of the coastal zone that have, in turn, been determined by and reinforced the nation's economic development strategy. While coastal zone management in many developed economies is more heavily oriented toward environmental protection and the resolution of user conflicts, policies for coastal zone management in Korea have emphasized the role of coastal space and other resources for economic development and industrial needs. Increasing demand for land reclamation to provide ever‐increasing industrial sites and human settlements, traditional and future needs of the fishery, and concern for the environment have led to a vast array of competition and, finally, often to conflicts. The basic pattern of coastal zone use in Korea has changed from the linear expansion of coastal zone to integrated coastal uses. An increased number of critical coastal zone issues and interactions was reflected in the creation of new governance that dealt with coastal zone resources and environment.     

Model coastal zone statute

Abstract

This model statute sets out a mechanism for the management of the coastal zone by the coastal states. It provides a possible state response to the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972. The authors recognize that most states presently have some form of management or legal control over their coastal zone, and the model statute has been written with the intention that all or parts of it could be adapted to the wide variety of state regulatory schemes with the aim of providing unitary management to the valuable resource of the coastal zone.     

Gender Issues within the Population-Environment Nexus in Philippine Coastal Areas

Sixty percent of the Philippine's population resides in the coastal zone. Women and men in coastal communities depend chiefly on the sea for subsistence. Over fifty percent of the dietary protein requirements of coastal communities are derived from municipal fisheries and shallow coastal habitats (reef fishes, marine plants, and mangroves). Coastal populations are young and expanding at rates that exceed regional and national averages. Expanding human pressures and man-made disturbances (over harvesting, destructive fishing, siltation, etc.) that offset natural processes are destroying habitats and creating protein food security crises and increasing malnutrition. At the same time conflicts among users of coastal resources are escalating. Access constraints, gender inequities, and cultural barriers stymie options for women and men to plan their families and create alternative livelihoods. National and local government agencies are addressing food security concerns through vertical policies and programs (e.g., fisheries management, integrated coastal management). The IPOPCORM project uses a cross-sectoral approach and quasi-experimental evaluation design to test the hypothesis that food security will be achieved more quickly when coastal resources management (CRM) and reproductive health (RH) management are implemented together. The purpose of this article is to review the project's experience and highlight the trends observed in program monitoring and evaluation during 2001–2004, which suggest better impact on RH, CRM, and gender indicators in the sites where the synergistic approach is being applied.     

Western Australia's nonstatutory approach to coastal zone management: An evaluation

Abstract

Western Australia is fortunate that there have been few natural disasters on the coast. However, low levels of coastal erosion during the 1970s demonstrated the need to establish coastal zone management in that state of Australia. The erosion was quickly contained because private ownership to the high water mark is almost nonexistent, private property being set back behind coastal reserves along most of the coast. The provision of coastal reserves has been part of a deliberate nonstatutory coastal planning and management approach. As a result Western Australia has been able to use existing acts, coordination between existing government agencies, and coastal policies rather than enact specific coastal legislation to manage the coast.     

Israel's coastal program: Resource protection through management of land use

Abstract

Presently, much of Israel's 190‐kilometer‐long Mediterranean coast is either unoccupied, devoted to unsuitable uses, or is in use by activities which have no special need to be near the water's edge. This has resulted from years of lack of appreciation by policy‐makers of the coast as a valuable resource, of national development policies that directed attention to other regions, and of the relatively limited demand for coastal recreation.

In the last decade the importance of these factors has diminished. In turn, there is now mounting pressure for the development of coastal land. Increasingly, rising standards of living with a greater demand for recreational facilities, the growth of tourism as a major industry, and demands of the environmental lobby for conservation of part of the coastal land are factors bound to cause intensive change along the coast and to affect the quality of its resources. These trends have brought about public intervention in deciding the future of the coast. This paper reviews and analyzes Israel's coastal policy and its resource management programs, and also discusses the potential challenges to their full implementation.

Three types of programs were suggested as the main management tools: a coastal research and development effort, national coastal land use planning and pollution prevention, and monitoring and control programs. Major objectives of the programs were to be achieved through land use controls. Consequently, an important role is given in the development and implementation of the coastal program to agencies responsible for the management of physical land use planning and development.

Successful implementation of the management program, however, will depend on the ability of its administrators to coordinate the actions of many interests, on success in changing attitudes among decision‐makers as to the value of the coast, and on widening support for coastal resource conservation among a presently uninvolved public.